ESL Blogs

Accents (in English)

By Dayne Collins

Writing this article is a calculated risk, I may become unpopular in the EC universe, lose a few readers, and receive some disapproving comments. I am aware that a lot of learners who read my content are borderline obsessed with mastering a particular accent. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to discourage anyone from achieving their desired accent, I just want to share my opinion on accent acquisition in ESL English education.

Perhaps your native language is a

Hey EC,

It's been a while, hasn't it? Many of you are probably thinking, "who the flip is this guy?" That's fair enough too. Sadly, the last time I logged in here was probably in 2014 and a lot has happened since then. I've been working really hard, keeping very busy, and taking on more and more projects. I've even moved to a new home. One that's very close to my office, and I love it here.

Speaking of home, logging in yesterday for the first time in a long time felt like a bittersweet homecoming.

I was getting restless after waiting for Shiv for more than an hour. 

"I don't think he will come, Shoba. Just give up on him," my brother said to me.

"He might have got caught in the traffic," I told him without meeting his eyes.

"Then why didn't he call you and say so?" he inquired like a policeman.

"He may have called me. My phone is not working," I lied to him.

"Come on, face the truth, Shoba! If he is really interested in you why hasn't he come yet?" he wanted to know. 

I really had no answer f

Blog challenge: may/might/could have + a past particle (By Expector)

Where could he be?

"He might have been on line by now. I am waiting for him for an hour. Where could he be? He might have had some bad connection. Damn internet………..! I am missing him so much………..why?

We have met just for few hours if counts in total. There may have been some connection……..some unseen connection between us. He used to come online exact at 2200 hours……..very punctilious……this always surprised me, but now, something

Yes, this structure can be used to talk about the possibility that something happened in the past. 

For example, you can say 'Expector may/might/could have missed my blog.' (You're not certain whether it was actually the case, though.)

'Could have' can also be used to say there was a possibility of something happening in the past, but it didn't happen. For example, 'I could have been killed.' (But in fact you weren't killed.)

It's such a useful structure - let's try to create a blog to practice it.

Question: If someone offered to give you a free vacation trip anywhere in world, where would you go? Why do you want to go to this place? What would you do when you got there?

Source:http://www.enchantedlearning.com/essay/freetrip.shtml

I love to answer these kind of questions, because makes you imagine how uplifting is to travel. You know, it's like you've already had been there, that is, in your imagination you do have been to the places you wish before. We can even visualize the trip tour we co

Hello my friends,

what about to take another Writing Challenge? Let's make ourself smarter in kind of an interesting way because I am coming up with my this awesome idea :-) You might know, where your friends, you met here come from and where the country is situated in the map.. but what about to get to know something more about their country?

I think, it would be great to share, what your country is famous for. Be it something traditional or something you would surprise others with, just try to w

Hello little EC birds!

Have you ever felt like a stranger?
I guess the answer is: "yeah, sure!", because we all have been newcomers on any occasion: The 1st day at primary/secondary school, college, work… Do you remember now the feeling of not knowing anybody around you, and how nice and important was any small gesture of kindness, any friendly greeting or any nice smile towards you?

Sometimes a nice gesture that for you means nothing can be very important and appreciated by others who you don't e

Yes, it's an English idiom, which means 'manage to deal with responsibilities'. 

That's not what I'm trying to say, though. People here (where I live) use 'underwater' or 'dive' for those who keep reading or watching but don't bother to leave a comment or say something to show they're here/online.

They'll try to hide. Sometimes they failed to show up for weeks or longer. The thing is you can tell they are still online - you know they're watching. They must have had a good reason to do so - maybe t

After I graduated from university I started to learn english but I never kept going  I always ended up disappointed. I had do many things l bought many books to learn english , I saw so many videos about english, I joined many forums for English learners ... etc

Unfortunately after three years regardless of all my effort I didn't see any noticeable development in my language 

I started to think that I'm not able to master any language because  i just don't have ability to do that. I was really

"Cheese", or "say cheese" is what UK and US people usually say when someone is taking a picture, because it makes your mouth to show a 'smile-like' shape.

In the late 19th century, it was more nice to keep the mouth small, which led to photographers to use the phrase "say prunes" (so the 'duck face' is old like that!)

I've also heard another instructions like:
"Smile" / "Smile for the camera", "Look at the birdie" or "Act serious!"

But the interesting thing is to find out the common words said in

I forget

How to writing blogs,

How to make comments,

Nothing feel good to me.

ooh

I forget the taste of everything,

I lost interst in Writing blogs,

Now I fail to write proper comment,

what happened to me,

I don't know

Always I open site and check the page and logout..

I miss that Interest+fun+happiness which I was always found in writing blogs, reading comments, sharing views....

Feeling like I lost my talent+my Value in this site...:(

I thought always that i will write alot of nice/awesome blogs in this si

The alignment of the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter is currently visible in the sky. This rare phenomenon that began on January 20, 2016 will continue to be seen with the naked eye until February 20, 2016. This planetary concurrence could be best viewed at dawn from the last week of January to the first week of February, 2016.

For over a decade since its last appearance, this planetary alignment that last happened in December 15, 2004 - January 15, 2005,  is now back in the lime

Did you ever wonder why someone failed to leave a comment on your blog? If your answer is yes, you're not alone. 

The majority of us here would enjoy the comments left by other members on our blogs. Sometimes you may have hoped to know a certain person's opinion about what you just wrote - you even thought the person was supposed to add a comment on it. You just kept waiting, but failed to see any comments by that person. Then you may have asked yourself, 'How could he/she have failed to leave a

R E F L E C T I O N

It is the bird that whistles the lovely voices
It is the forest that provides much oxygen for us
It is the sea that is rich in various kinds of marine lifes
It is the earth that we should protect from corruptness ...

It was jealousy that separated brothers
It was hatred that made two people hostile
It was grudge that brought on all the things possible
It was greed that caused the world war happen ...

It is for a peacefulness that we should respect each others
It is to get health

To put it simply, should we be creative or careful when we're learning or using a language? 

I assume 'be creative' means you don't need to abide by all the rules of a language completely. If it's right, do we need to learn all the rules? I wonder if it's possible for a learner to be creative when they're trying to learn or use a language. Or rather, do we need to learn how to walk before trying to run?

I may have failed to understand it 'be creative', jus as I failed to get it 'think in English'.

Did you ever wonder why some of the blogs were featured while others not? If so, you have a lot of company. 

When the blog is thought to be worth recommending

When the admin or blog mod thinks a blog is worth recommending or reading, the blog will be featured. Featured blogs are usually well written, interesting/fun, useful or helpful. 

Featured blogs don't have to be flawless or perfect

You may have found there were even mistakes (grammar, spelling, or other) in the featured blogs. It's quite possi

Everyone likes to find the man or the woman of her or his dreams and to initiate a life with an everlasting love.  Love at first sight might be easy, but it is so hard to maintain the love and to grow it stronger. It’s we who should be willing to sacrifice for love and to be selfless.

I am so lucky to have you, because it was me who was selfish and stubborn and it was you who was patient and kind. I always think’ God what have I done to deserve him’? So I am the person who must be grateful to God